Follow Me: & Be Amazed
Have you ever needed help? Sometimes admitting that we need help is more painful than a root canal. And asking someone else for help? Out of the question! Why is that?
Follow Me: With Your Heart
When children identify heroes and role models, they quickly begin to pick up on the habits and mannerisms of the people they admire. They show they are followers by imitating the behavior they see and hear.
Follow Me: Today!
There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you make it a priority. It’s always on your mind!
Psalms of the Summer: Wisdom
Do you ever feel the pressure to make people happy? Do you ever tell supervisors and co-workers what you think they want to hear? Do you ever nod along with friends or family—even when you know they’re flat-out wrong?
Psalms of the Summer: Goodness
What do you want from God? We know that the correct answer includes a host of spiritually-minded matters, but does that really capture our prayer life well?
Psalms of the Summer: Security
Sometimes, all you need to know is that someone is standing by your side. Today, we are reminded that the Lord Almighty is the one standing by the side of all his people.
Acts of God: Built for Success
Surely things like work and family are very important. God calls us to be faithful to each one of these callings. But time in God’s Word is never a waste of time.
Acts of God: Provisions for Body & Soul
Today our focus is on the basics—the necessities of life. In the fourth petition of the Lord’s prayer, we ask God to give us our daily bread. In our Old Testament reading, we see how God miraculously responded to some not so pleasant grumbling.
Acts of God: Courage
Working with authority behind you makes a big difference. When you don’t have authority on your side you are always wondering if you have the support you need. Today, Jesus sends his disciples out with his authority.
Acts of God: Wisdom & Power
God’s Word must be proclaimed regardless of the response. Paul, in writing to encourage the young pastor Timothy, encourages him to endure the same hardship for the sake of the Gospel.
Acts of God: Safeguarding
Everyone dies. No matter how rich or poor, no matter how powerful or downtrodden, no matter how successful or how much of a failure they seemed to be, every single person dies.
Acts of God: Attention & Care
The problems we find in our Scripture readings may be unfamiliar to us, but they are not unrelatable. In our Gospel reading, experienced fishermen face their greatest fear—an overpowering storm.
Acts of God: Development
People have used military might, political power, or the promise of temporal happiness to expand the kingdom of God. These tactics may make the kingdom of God appear to grow in its sphere of influence, but it is a hollow development.
Acts of God: Marked by Blessing
The center of everything worth seeing is Christ. He defeated and has locked up the one whose head he crushed, but whom we see so often in the temptations that surround us and rise within us.
Acts of God: Real Rest
How do you read the Law? This may sound like a question for lawyers or judges, but it’s one every single person ought to be able to answer.
Acts of God: Adoption
One plus one, equals two. It’s a mathematical concept we have taken for granted since we learned arithmetic. But, today in our songs and readings, we celebrate what we cannot comprehend. Our God tells us that he is One.
Acts of God: Testimony
Israel had three annual pilgrimage festivals—the feast of Passover, Tabernacles, and Weeks. The Lord timed his outpouring of the Holy Spirit with this third pilgrimage festival which was celebrated seven weeks and a day (or fifty days) after the Passover Sabbath.
See Him: Who Leaves Parting Gifts
For forty days, the Church has cried, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” But forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, he departed from his disciples and was enthroned in glory in heaven.
See Him: Who Is Love
We must strive to reflect the love of Christ and his obedience to his Father in our lives. This isn’t optional or merely for overachievers. The branches, to connect with last week’s Gospel lesson, bear corresponding fruit of necessity.
See Him: Who Makes You Fruitful
Today’s Gospel gives us a rich metaphor for the Christian life. Jesus says I am the true vine…You are the branches. Of course, we cannot help but see that the branches are totally reliant upon the Vine for everything. So it is with Christians.